At 3:28 PM +0100 2004-08-11, Ian A B Eiloart wrote:
I guess you'd still need to ensure the kids used good passwords and didn't share them.
Then there's the spyware issue. I mentioned this privately in e-mail to Johnathan, but I'll also copy the relevant paragraphs here:
Recent reports are that the average PC has something like 30 pieces of spyware on it. Each piece of spyware can do things like sniff every packet coming into or going out of the system, everything typed at the keyboard, everything cut-n-pasted through the clipboard, etc....
So, unless you're a computer security expert and you are fastidious about keeping your computer 100% totally squeeky clean, odds are that there are multiple groups of spyware authors/crackers/"skr1pt k1dd13s" out there that have a copy of every single password you've ever used -- including the passwords you've used to encrypt private documents or communications.
Which means they probably have full access to your online bank account, every private web site you've ever visited, etc....
This also means that they can probably impersonate you using supposedly secure cryptographic means (if they can sniff your password, they can also steal your private key files), and electronically sign your name to documents which legally bind you to whatever contracts they care to sign. Since it's your electronic signature using your private password and your private cryptographic key, you're not going to be able to do a whole lot to convince a court that it wasn't you who really signed that document.
As I said, it depends on what you call "secure".
-- Brad Knowles, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania
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